Taboo – LGBT means Love, Gospel, Bible, Trust. That’s a little different from what you may be seeing in the media this June. It’s a helpful memory hook for pride month.
It’s so simple!
It’s not that complicated. Leviticus says that homosexuality is sinful. We’re done here! Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a woman as one lies with a man; that is detestable. Nothing more to see. Well, except that if that was the only verse of condemnation in the Bible, we may have to take a pause.
Prohibition
Leviticus 1-7 – animal sacrifices
Leviticus 8-10 – rules for priests
Leviticus 11 – no Red Lobster
Leviticus 12-15 – illness and bodily fluids
Leviticus 16 – a holiday
Leviticus 17 – raw meat
Leviticus 18 – homosexuality
The first six items on our list from Leviticus we don’t follow. So why, says many Christians who embrace homosexuality, should we follow God’s direction in Leviticus 18?
Moral Law
God’s moral law that was burned onto your conscience when he created you is unchanging. Jesus talked about this a length in the sermon on the mount and throughout the gospels. The Apostles, Paul and others, do the same in the Epistles. When we look as God’s direction in the New Testament, everything becomes crystal clear.
Love Your Neighbor
Before we kick Leviticus to the curb we need to remember Leviticus 19. This is where we find love your neighbor as yourself. The expert in the Law told Jesus this phrase and love your God above all. This is the summary. Jesus riffs off of Leviticus 19 and tells the parable of the Good Samaritan.
God is Good
Remember the festival that we don’t celebrate from Leviticus 16? That was Yom Kipur. On the Great Day of Atonement the high priest would confess the sins of God’s people on the head of a goat and send that goat into the wilderness. Our sins are gone because they are more than we can handle. God is good because he takes our sins away.
Want to hear what God says about the word for homosexuality in the New Testament? Watch this week’s Bible study from our series Gay and God, Taboo – LGBT.
Please click HERE to find the Bible class slides.